HSH Solicitors Complaints Procedure

We are committed to providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint, please contact Ms. Heptinstall, our Client Care Partner. If we have to change any of the responsibilities or the timescales set out below we will let you know and explain why.

In certain circumstances dependent on the complexities of the complaint the firm may outsource the complaint to an independent third party company who specialise in dealing with legal complaints – Master Compliance Ltd. In those circumstances Ms Barbara Spoor will deal with the complaint on behalf of the firm.

What will happen next?

1.Within seven days we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain any details. If it seems appropriate we will suggest a meeting at this stage. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.

2.We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will also investigate your complaint by examining the relevant file.

3.Ms. Heptinstall or the firm’s Complaint Handling outsourced company, Master Compliance Ltd will contact you either in writing by email or telephone to discuss your concerns. You will be able to provide any further comments, ask for further information and what you would like to resolve your complaint. This will happen within 14 days of the initial acknowledgement of the complaint. If you would prefer a face to face meeting to discuss any concerns you have this can be arranged.

4.Ms Heptinstall or Ms Barbara Spoor will then review your file, speaking to any member of staff if it is necessary to address the concerns, within 14 working days of initial contact with you.

5. Ms Heptinstall or Ms Spoor will write to you setting out her views of your complaints and making any proposals for resolution of your complaint within 7 working days of review of your file. You will be asked to provide any further comments and reconsider any resolution that is being proposed.

6.If you provide any further comments, Ms Heptinstall or Ms Spoor will address these within 7 working days of receipt of any further comments.

7.If you still remain unhappy, you can raise your concerns with The Legal Ombudsman whose contact details are as follows:

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

Referral must be made to The Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the date of the letter confirming the investigation has come to an end and your file is closed in relation to the complaint that has been dealt with. In any event you must raise the formal complaint within 6 years of the incident giving rise to the complaint. If your complaint relates to an incident prior to this date you must raise the issues within 3 years of when you reasonably should have known you had a complaint.

8. In addition, subsequent to implementation of the EU ADR Directive, we are obliged to provide you with details of an Alternative Dispute Resolution approved body which the firm have chosen as ProMediate. Further information regarding ADR and in particular the EU ADR Directive can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services.

However, both you and the firm are required to confirm our wish to use such a scheme. At this stage we would indicate that this firm do NOT intend to use the ProMediate scheme for complaints handling.